A rumor is circulating that Nichols dated a wife or an ex of an officer involved in the attack, but the family says that is not true. It seems the rumor was started to blame Nichols. To date no information has been released about why he was assaulted and killed by the police, or even why they stopped him.

The Police Tribune

Family Says Rumors Tyre Nichols Was Having Affair With Cop's Wife Aren't True - The Police Tribune

Memphis, TN - At a candlelight prayer vigil on Tuesday night the family of Tyre Nichols addressed scandalous rumors that have been spreading online that alleged the late 29 year old had been engaging in an affair with a Memphis police officer's wife. Rodney Wells, Nichols' stepfather, brought up the rumors while he was talking [...]

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Ooooh good question, I don't know how to vote really, I'm still not sure exactly what to think but I have been pondering it and I'll jot my thoughts down. I don't think the defund movement caused Nichols death personally, if anything police budgets have gone up, not down. I think a class issue caused his death, or perhaps accurately a perception of class. Because Nichol's death was at the hands of all black officers there can be no allegations of racism, but I certainly think you can apply class standards as one possible way to explain why he was killed (note that's not the only way to explain it and my explanation may not have any validity). I think it can generally be agreed that Police culture sees itself as better than regular citizens and considers any criminal and likely anyone they consider to have committed a crime as 'not as good as them', perhaps lacking in morals, like our debate about christian moralizing vs atheism, one side believing they are better or more just than the other, which as you know I consider to be one of the higher forms of BS.

When someone, and an organization of someones believes this way and goes through years of police cultural normalizing you get cops who think they can dispense justice in whatever form they see fit and don't have much regard for the well being of people they consider lower forms of life, a common cop lingo for people like that is 'scum'. 

So, I don't see white on black or black on white or white on any non-white police brutality as a race thing, sure it could be but I think the above explanation makes more sense as a subconscious motive for these attacks. 

I think these clips illustrate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AcXPdWq43I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1MDL6GBWbQ

https://youtu.be/MBaqIlQ6Afk?t=277

That’s an interesting way of looking at it.  You hold the basic premise that police culture give them an entitled sense of moralism which makes people more inclined to do violence. That may be part of the issue, although I took it a different way.  Police departments around the country are having trouble keeping their departments staffed. Retirements and resignations are up.  New recruiting numbers are low, so they have had to lower their standards.  Now they are getting more people who don’t have as much of a reluctance to use violence to solve problems.  At least one of the five cops had an arrest record. They were not what we consider to be effective police officers.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/02/us/police-departments-struggle-recruit-retain-officers/index.html

and this:

https://www.foxnews.com/us/tyre-nichols-death-2-memphis-officers-involved-in-stop-joined-department-after-it-lowered-hiring-standards

Tyre Nichols death: 2 Memphis officers involved in stop joined department after it lowered hiring standards

Police should 'not rush to hire officers that might not be qualified,' one expert says

That last comment is a gross understatement. They were already prone toward violence.  Of course, we don’t yet know why they stopped him in the first place? Did he do anything wrong? Did they know him and target him? I don’t blame him but we don’t have the full story.

I watched the videos. First of all, those are entertainment and fiction. Second, most major city police departments would remove people like that from patrol situations or from their departments if they knew about it. At least mine would.  Not all, I agree. I know someone who tried to file a police report in a questionable precinct and was kicked out of the building.  So there are people like that. It comes from the top. If the administration allows it, it will continue to happen. If it doesn’t, it won’t. Los Angeles County just replaced their Sheriff and added a ballot initiative making it easier to remove a sheriff from office for cause.  I have met my local law enforcement when we had a coyote abatement forum set up and they appeared along with the wildlife personnel to answer questions.  They were very impressive and it appears that department is clean from the top down.  

“That’s an interesting way of looking at it.  You hold the basic premise that police culture give them an entitled sense of moralism which makes people more inclined to do violence”

Mmmm, maybe not more inclined, I don’t think Police see it that way, violence to them might equal many things, keeping the peace, saving a victim, etc. I don’t think Police go into work everyday thinking they are going to beat the living hell out of someone but I do think they all believe their actions are totally justified given their mandate.

  “Police departments around the country are having trouble keeping their departments staffed. Retirements and resignations are up.  New recruiting numbers are low, so they have had to lower their standards.  Now they are getting more people who don’t have as much of a reluctance to use violence to solve problems.  At least one of the five cops had an arrest record. They were not what we consider to be effective police officers”

Yes, this was certainly the case in Baltimore after Freddy Grey. One of the points Bill Maher has consistently made is that we need to fire most Police are rehire them only after a psych evaluation, those that fail aren’t rehired, his point being that sociopaths, and bullies are drummed out and theoretically only the best officers would remain and hiring standards would be improved, that seems to not be the case presently.

I can’t believe someone with a record was able to be sworn as an officer, that’s not possible here with our Provincial Police Acts.

Yes, I’m aware the clips are fiction and entertainment, that is obvious but I do think it illustrates the issue, and your city did give us the Rampart scandal and was run under a consent decree for a long time so I don’t know that we should hold the LAPD to that high a standard.

My local anecdote is a former LAPD officer who is working in my city, beyond the weirdness of going from LA weather to winter in Winnipeg (-40 all week this week), the guy is a walking brutality complaint it seems, just in our local media he’s been profiled a lot, I don’t pay much attention to our local defund movement but it seems they’re onto something with this guy based on general news coverage.

Now I’m not sure they had records. The news said so but I can’t find an article. Of course that doesn’t mean anything. Two had disciplinary action taken against them.

Police are supposed to use the least amount of force necessary to subdue a suspect. That doesn’t mean a beating but suspects have been hurt resisting arrest.  They can re I’ve sociopaths without firing everyone, but I doubt many police are sociopaths. Someone can be violent without having a mental illness.

I don’t live in Los Angeles so it’s not my city but they are good for examples to use because there are so many articles written about them. If you notice, I also post a lot about San Francisco, another city that makes the new often.

The cold weather made the man more brutal? Why isn’t he fired?

I just find it extremely weird that the guy worked for LAPD for so long and allegedly was sent away, how he ends up in Winnipeg is very curious to me, that wouldn’t be an easy transition weather wise, I just find that fascinating.

The guy has always been pretty brutal from what I’ve understood, but cops protect cops generally and review boards usually don’t find for sustained allegations.